PRAGUE, Czech Republic — In the wake of the death of Joerg Haider, the charismatic far-right politician, Austria has been forced to confront directly the question of his sexuality after his 27-year-old political successor asserted that Haider had been “the man of my life.”

There were rumors for years, but they were widely ignored in a conservative nation not much interested in prying into the private lives of its leaders.

“We had a special relationship that went far beyond friendship,” the political successor, Stefan Petzner, a former fashion and cosmetics reporter, said Sunday in a highly emotional interview on Austrian Radio 3. “Joerg and I were connected by something truly special. He was the man of my life.”

Petzner took over the Alliance for the Future of Austria after Haider, 58, died in a car crash on Oct. 11. He had been drinking at what has been reported as a gay club before flipping his car at nearly twice the legal speed limit.

Officials of Haider’s party, which gained more than 10 percent of the votes in September elections, tried to limit the political fallout from the confession by dismissing Petzner as head of their parliamentary group and denied that the men were lovers. However, their requests that the radio interview not be rebroadcast were rebuffed by Austrian journalists.

Reinhold Gaertner, a political-science professor at Innsbruck University, said the reaction had been muted because a cult of Haider had grown since his death and his legions of supporters were intent on mythologizing him.